reunion. I beg you not to provoke me new friend lest he
put an end to you all too quick. I want our meeting to be a
memorable experience for all. Aye, memorable! You see,
I’ve no ship, no crew anymore. All I have left to me be
this moment, which I don’t want to hurry.”
Realization rushed in on Jon-Tom as he turned on
Jalwar. “You work for Zancresta, don’t you? You’ve been
working for Zancresta from the first! Running into you on
the northern shore of the Glittergeist was no coincidence.
Those brigands weren’t attacking you. It was all a ploy to
let you worm yourself into our company.”
“An apt metaphor, Jon-Tom,” said Roseroar.
“Tell me something,” Jon-Tom went on quietly. “How
much is Zancresta paying you to keep this medicine from
Clothahump?”
The ferret burst out laughing, though the business end of
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
265
the strange weapon he held did not waver. “Paying me?
You idiots! Spellsinger? Pah! / am Zancresta! Wizard of
Malderpot, supreme master of the arcane arts, diviner of
the unknown and parter of the shrouds! Fools, beggars of a
humble knowledge, you are blinder than the troglodytes of
Tatrath and dumber than the molds that grub out an
existence in the cracks between the stones.”
The ferret seemed to swell in their eyes as they stared,
though neither his size nor shape actually changed. But the
curved spine stiffened, the voice was no longer shaky, and
an inner unholy light emanated from suddenly bottomless
eyes while a barely perceptible dark aura sprang to malev-
olent life around him.